The Experience Beer Project – New at Cask Fest this Year

For some weeks now I have been telling you about the upcoming Washington Cask Beer Festival (see our previous post), encouraging you to get tickets. I am especially proud of the story I published the other day regarding Herbert’s Legendary Cask Fest Ale (you should read it, if you haven’t). Today I want to tell you about something new the Washington Brewers Guild has come up with for this year’s festival: The Experience Beer Project (EBP).

This year festivalgoers have the opportunity to learn something about beer as they drink it. Described as an educational seminar style series, there will be three topics covered by experts: Cask Beer 101; Draft Beer Quality Meets Sensory Analysis; and Food/Beer Pairing. I provide more information about each expert and topic below.

For each topic, an expert will be available at a designated station to answer questions during the Q&A period. Each expert will also make a presentation at a determined time (listed below).

Topics and Experts

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Cask 101 – So you think you know what cask-conditioned beer is all about? Well, maybe you don’t. Alex Dittmar will discuss the nature of cask-conditioned beer, how it is made, and what makes it different than regular beer. You’ll be able to sample a cask-conditioned beer alongside its non-cask counterpart. Alex Dittmar is the founder and head brewer at Airways Brewing Company (blog sponsor).

Draught Beer Quality meets Sensory Analysis – Does that draft beer taste a bit off to you? Dave Glor provides an introduction to what can cause common off-flavors in draft beer systems. He will provide some samples and you’ll be able to determine if something is afoul and learn to identify some common off-flavors. Dave is one of New Belgium Brewing’s Field Quality Rangers.

Food & Beer Pairing – Chef Warren Peterson will discuss beer/food pairing guidelines, including how to plan and execute pairings for events of different sizes. Cheese samples will be provided to demonstrate basic pairing principles. Warren is the chef at Schooner Exact Brewing and formerly worked for Tom Douglas Restaurants as Beer Czar.